Louisa May Alcott, daughter of Amos Bronson Alcott and Abigail May Alcott, was born in Germantown, Pennslyvainia, and grew up in rural Massechusetts. Louisa's father taught her and her two sisters and insisted they not go to school. Louisa is famous for the book Little Women. Alcott is much like one her characters, Mary Jo, in that she too was a tomboy. After a huge selling of Little Women, Alcott wrote Little Men, Work, Eight Cousins and many more. Alcott died on March 6, 1888, but we still have her work to remember her by.
Setting-
In the book Little Women, the setting plays a big role in the plot of the story. The March family consist of six members. Mrs. March is the waiting wife of her husband who is at war, and is the mother of four young ladies. Margret March is the oldest of the four girls. She is sixteen, very pretty, plump and fair, with a lot of beautiful, long hair. Jo March is the second of four and at the age of fifteen. Jo is tall and very thin, but she does not like to be reminded that she is female. She feels she should be “the man of the house” while her father is off in war. Elizabeth March or Beth is the third of four and at the age of thirteen. Beth, as everyone would call her, was a shy, timid girl that stayed in her own little happy place most of the time. Her dad had nicknamed her, “Little Tranquility”, to suit her personality perfectly. Amy, who is the youngest of the four, was a beautiful young girl that had yellow shoulder length, curly hair with bright blue eyes. Amy was the daughter that was very conceited when it came to herself. Although Amy thought the world evolved around herself, she knew how to mind her own manners. She was raised as a very respectful young lady. Because the story was set during the Civil War the plot and mood was different than a story set in the 1900's.
The family was going through a hard time. Dad was gone so money was hard to come by and the girls missed him. To make things harder, the time period was very proper. Women were to be poise and polite and always look their best. This made the March girls feel out of place because they only had one dress a piece. One instance that upset them was when Jo had ruined her gloves, being the tomboy that she was, and she had to wear one of her sister's; they each wore one. When Meg spent time with one of her friends who were very elegant, they dressed her up to look "fashionable." She felt that she was not the same person because it did not make her happy to look rich. She was happy with her family even though she had little luxuries. At the party people also discussed that she was friends with Laurie becuase he was rich and she planned to marry him. This was typlical thinking for people at the time. However, Meg would have none of it, she thought it was absurd and was not happy about it at all. Laurie was a friend to the whole family and her pride was too great to think of such a thing. She felt very akward with these people.
It was a huge deal to the girls to recieve books for Christmas. Books were hard to come by and they all promised to have them read by the time Daddy came home. At the time, women were to take care of the house and the children and have certain "womanly skills." It was their job to create a happy home while the men did all the work and earned the money, making it hard when many went off to fight in the war. Women could then do odd jobs for money because the men where gone. Jo sold her writtings to be published in the paper and also sold her hair for money. Since women raised the children, Meg was very surprised to find that John, her husband, could watch the children too.
There were many aspects of the story that could have been different if the setting was changed. There were no laws that prevented punishment in schools. Amy was repremanded by her teacher and embarrassed in front of the whole class for having limes in her desk. This would not have happened in the current school system. They also walked places and sometimes were able to ride in a horse and carriage with Laurie. Communication at the time was very poor. The girls rarely recieved a letter from their father. When they did get one, it was a big deal. The quickest way to communicate was through telegraph. Mrs. March recieved one when Mr. March was sick. They were not frequent because the family was poor. This made the letters form dad precious to the girls. If the story was set in current times, the girls could have sent emails to him and made phonecalls. The setting couldn't allow this. Another factor that was dependent on the time was that Beth died of Scarlet Fever which is very rare now. Back then, it was common and very deadly. These things give the reader a sense of what life was like at the time.
The mood of the story was joyful and gave a sense of growing up. There were struggles to overcome but overall, it is a warm story of love and compassion. Even though times were hard, the girls stuck together and made it through. They remained optimistic and humble and grew up to be "Little Women" with much pride.
Setting-
In the book Little Women, the setting plays a big role in the plot of the story. The March family consist of six members. Mrs. March is the waiting wife of her husband who is at war, and is the mother of four young ladies. Margret March is the oldest of the four girls. She is sixteen, very pretty, plump and fair, with a lot of beautiful, long hair. Jo March is the second of four and at the age of fifteen. Jo is tall and very thin, but she does not like to be reminded that she is female. She feels she should be “the man of the house” while her father is off in war. Elizabeth March or Beth is the third of four and at the age of thirteen. Beth, as everyone would call her, was a shy, timid girl that stayed in her own little happy place most of the time. Her dad had nicknamed her, “Little Tranquility”, to suit her personality perfectly. Amy, who is the youngest of the four, was a beautiful young girl that had yellow shoulder length, curly hair with bright blue eyes. Amy was the daughter that was very conceited when it came to herself. Although Amy thought the world evolved around herself, she knew how to mind her own manners. She was raised as a very respectful young lady. Because the story was set during the Civil War the plot and mood was different than a story set in the 1900's.
The family was going through a hard time. Dad was gone so money was hard to come by and the girls missed him. To make things harder, the time period was very proper. Women were to be poise and polite and always look their best. This made the March girls feel out of place because they only had one dress a piece. One instance that upset them was when Jo had ruined her gloves, being the tomboy that she was, and she had to wear one of her sister's; they each wore one. When Meg spent time with one of her friends who were very elegant, they dressed her up to look "fashionable." She felt that she was not the same person because it did not make her happy to look rich. She was happy with her family even though she had little luxuries. At the party people also discussed that she was friends with Laurie becuase he was rich and she planned to marry him. This was typlical thinking for people at the time. However, Meg would have none of it, she thought it was absurd and was not happy about it at all. Laurie was a friend to the whole family and her pride was too great to think of such a thing. She felt very akward with these people.
It was a huge deal to the girls to recieve books for Christmas. Books were hard to come by and they all promised to have them read by the time Daddy came home. At the time, women were to take care of the house and the children and have certain "womanly skills." It was their job to create a happy home while the men did all the work and earned the money, making it hard when many went off to fight in the war. Women could then do odd jobs for money because the men where gone. Jo sold her writtings to be published in the paper and also sold her hair for money. Since women raised the children, Meg was very surprised to find that John, her husband, could watch the children too.
There were many aspects of the story that could have been different if the setting was changed. There were no laws that prevented punishment in schools. Amy was repremanded by her teacher and embarrassed in front of the whole class for having limes in her desk. This would not have happened in the current school system. They also walked places and sometimes were able to ride in a horse and carriage with Laurie. Communication at the time was very poor. The girls rarely recieved a letter from their father. When they did get one, it was a big deal. The quickest way to communicate was through telegraph. Mrs. March recieved one when Mr. March was sick. They were not frequent because the family was poor. This made the letters form dad precious to the girls. If the story was set in current times, the girls could have sent emails to him and made phonecalls. The setting couldn't allow this. Another factor that was dependent on the time was that Beth died of Scarlet Fever which is very rare now. Back then, it was common and very deadly. These things give the reader a sense of what life was like at the time.
The mood of the story was joyful and gave a sense of growing up. There were struggles to overcome but overall, it is a warm story of love and compassion. Even though times were hard, the girls stuck together and made it through. They remained optimistic and humble and grew up to be "Little Women" with much pride.
Character Analysis
Taylor